Window cleaning device



S. R. BELL Filed Feb. l1, 1963 Ellll "Il f l;

WINDOW CLEANING DEVICE Mmmm Jan. 21, 1964 United States Patent O,118,166 WINDW CLEANING DEVICE Sidney R. Bell, Stamford, Conn., assignerto `let Brush Products, Ine., New York, NX., a corporation of New JerseyFiled Feb. 11, 1963, Ser. No. 257,675 9 Claims. (Cl. 15-531) Thisinvention relates to devices for cleaning windows, wherein the deviceincludes a brush head, into which water can be discharged in theoperation of cleaning and scrubbing a window and, further, a exiblewiper blade for linish cleaning the window or removal of water appliedto the windowpane. More particularly, the invention deals with a deviceof the character described having means for manually pumping water froma reservoir in the handle of the device through a discharge tube leadingto the brush head.

The novel features of the invention will be best understood from thefollowing description, when taken together with the accompanyingdrawing, in which certain embodiments of the invention are disclosedand, in which, the separate parts are designated by suitable referencecharacters in each of the views and, in which:

FiG. l is a sectional and face view of a device made according to myinvention, with the brush head detached.

FIG. 2 is a section substantially on the line 2-2 of FG. l, with thebrush head applied.

FG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view showing a modied form ofconstruction, with the device in the window cleaning use thereof; and

FiG. 4 is a view, similar to FIG. 3, showing the device m a reverseposition.

ln FIGS. l and 2 of the drawing, I have shown one adaptation and use ofmy invention and, considering FIG. l, represents the tubular handlemember, having a ribbed outer surface, as indicated, in part, at 11 toprovide a secure handgrip, the handle member having a threaded cap 12 atits free end in threaded engagement therewith, the cap having a rubberor other washer 13 to seal a liquid, diagrammatically illustrated, inpart, at 14, in the bore or reservoir 15 of the handle member. The otherend of the handle member is open, as seen at 16, and fitted and securedin this end of the handle member is an elongated tapered tubular body17, in the end of which is secured a fitting element 18.

In the handle member 143, inwardly of the open end 16, is a transversepump cylinder 19, in the open end of which is mounted a closure ring2t), in which is supported a linger knob 21 of a piston 22 operating inthe cylinder 19. A spring 23 is arranged in the cylinder and engages thepiston to normally support the same against the ring 20, as shown inFIG. l of the drawing. The cylinder 19 has three radially extendingsleeves, one sleeve 24 extending into the open end 16 of the handlemember and the other two sleeves 25 and 26 extending into the reservoir15. The sleeves 24 and 26 have apertures opening into the cylinder 19,which apertures are controlled by spring seated ball valves 27 and 28,respectively. The spring of the valve 27 seats in a multiple diametercoupling tube 2e', with which a liexible tube 30 is coupled, the latterextending to and being mounted in the lower portion of the element 18,as clearly noted in FIG. 2 of the drawing, to communicate with a bore 31in said element, having a discharge 32 into the chamber 33 of acup-Shaped extension 34 of the element. This extension is disposedangularly to the longitudinal plane of the body 17, as clearly noted inilG. 2 of the drawing. The outer peripheral surface or" the extension 34is bevelled to provide frictional engagement of a brush head 35therewith, the brush head being in the form of a ring llfl Patented dan.2l, 1954 having circumferentially arranged bristles 36 thereon, asdiagrammatically seen in FIG. 2 of the drawing.

Returning now to the structure of the cylinder 19, it will appear thatthe spring controlling the ball valve 2S seats on a cap 37 mounted onthe sleeve 26. Mounted in the sleeve 2S is a tube 33, which extends to aposition adjacent the lower end of the reservoir 1S, as seen in iilG. lof the drawing, so as to be exposed to substantially all of the liquid14 in the reservoir and a ball check valve 39 seats on the upper end otthe tube 38, so as to prevent discharge of liquid from the cylinder 19as and when the piston 22 is actuated for discharging liquid from thecylinder up through the tube 3l) and into and through the brush head 35'for application to a surface to be cleaned. Considering FIG. 2 of thedrawing, it will appear that the cylinder 19 has laterally extendingapertured ribs il at sides thereof, so that, in filling the devicethrough the cap end 12 with a suitable liquid, the device can be lled toan extent greater than the capacity of the reservoir 15 proper, in thatthis liquid can pass upwardly through the tubular body 17 and passeddownwardly into the reservoir 15, as the liquid is consumed.

in the use of the device, it will be understood that one or two manualstrokes of the piston through actuation of the linger knob 21 isessential to draw the liquid 14 from the reservoir into the cylinder 19and in discharging this liquid from the cylinder up through the tube3i?. in this latter operation, the valve 39 is seated. The valve 27serves to hold liquid in the tube 3l) as the device is continuously usedso that, in actual practice, in a stroke operation of the piston 22,liquid would be discharged through the head and this discharged liquidwould be replaced in the outward stroke of the piston through the mediumof the spring 23, which sucks the liquid from the reservoir into thecylinder 19.

The spring actuating the valve 23 will be a very light spring, sucientto normally maintain the valve in a seated position, but to enableliquid to drain from the cylinder when the device is not in use andpositioned or stored in the upright position shown in FIG. l inproviding a discharge from the cylinder 19 and, in some instances, thisdischarge can be through a tube extending from the cap 37, as indicatedby the dot-dash showing at 37 in FG. l.

The element 18 has an angularly extending flared tongue 411, shown insection in FIG. 2, and the flare of which is clearly illustrated in FG.Il. Descriptively speaking, the brush head may be said to be angularlydisposed on one side of the body 17; whereas, the tongue is angularlydisposed at the opposed side thereof. Mounted on the tongue i1 are a ofwiper blade holding plates i2 riveted or otherwise fixed together, asseen at 43 in FIG. l of the drawing, in securely supporting the plateson the tongue 41 and in gripping a wiper blade 44 in the jaw sideportions 45 of the plates, these jaws engaging an enlarged portion 46 onthe blade '44, as clearly illustrated in FIG. 2 of the drawing. it willbe understood that, after the window or surface has been cleaned byactuation of the brush thereover, the wiper blade can be utilized inremoving liquid from the surface, as with other devices of this type andkind. At this time, it is well to mention that, while the device has ader'inite use as a window cleaner, it can be utilized for cleaning andwiping any type and kind of surface and, lfurther, can be utilized inoperation of the device with the brush and wiper end in a raisedposition v ith respect to the hand or operator, or in a loweredpoistion.

'In some instances, a one unit device can be utilized and sold for twodistinct purposes, namely as a device, including the wiper blade or adevice in which the wiper blade and its supports are removed and thetongue 14 aliarse 3 would then be used as a scraper blade in uses of thedevice as a dish cleaner, in which latter use, the liquid i4 can be inthe form of a detergent discharged into the brush head, similar todevices, such as shown in Patent NurL ber 2,772,430, granted December 4,1956.

ln devices of the kind referred to above, i have shown a modifiedadaptation oi FlGS. 3 and 4. and, in these figures, dit" represents thehandle member, l?" the tubular body, 19" the cylinder, 2'9" the couplingtube arranged on the sleeve 24. iAt 43 are indicated ribs, similar tothe ribs il of FlG. 2, except that 4d are not apertured. With thestructure shown in FlGS. 3 and 4, the sleeves 25 and 2d are omitted anda single sleeve extension 47 is employed, having a bore 5:18 angular incross-sectional form and communicating with the cylinder l. This angularbore provides passage of rluid into the cylinder when the parts are inthe position of FIG. `Mounted on 47 is a two-part valve plug 49,comprising the parts Se and 5l adhesively or otherwise secured togetheralong the parting line k52. Extending from the parting line 52, the part5i has a tubular valve seat 53 tapered to t snugly in a socket 54 in thepart 5d. The part 5d' has a corresponding valve seat 55. A ball checkvalve S6 operatively engages both of these seats 5'3 and 55, as willappear from a consideration of FlGS. 3 and 4.

ln this connection, it is pointed out that most of the referencecharacters referred to above and `which will follow are applied to theshowing in FIG. 3 and will not be completely repeated in the showing inFIG. 4.

Communicating with the bore extending from the seat 53 is a port orpassage 57, which also passes through the part 5t? and opens into thereservoir l5' of the handle member 'lili'. In like manner, the part Silhas a port 5d extending from the seat SS and communicates with a pipe ortube 38', which would be similar to the tube 3S of FIG. 1, the latterextending to the lower portion of the reservoir l5. With the parts inthe position shown in lFlG. 3, the modified form of device can be used,similarly to the device as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the liquid drawn fromthe reservoir v passing into the cylinder lg' through the lport d8, thispassage bein(7 controlled by a ball valve 59, as is indicated by thearrow in FG. 3 of the drawing.

In the reverse use of the device as noted in FIG. 4, liquid in thereservoir 15 will be positioned in the reservoir around the cylinder yi9and, in operation of the piston in the cylinder 19', this lliquid willbe drawn into the cylinder through the port @il in the direction of thearrows of FlG. 4 with the ball 56 in the seated position shown in saidligure to prevent discharge through the tube 31S. ln this sameconnection, it will be apparent that, in the use as sh wn in FlG. 3, theball S6 seals the discharge through the port 57. In FIG. 3, it will beunderstood that the liquid positioned in the cylinder l5" is dischargedupwardly through i7 to the brush head; whereas, in FIG. 4, the dischargeis through the same head, which is then directed downwardly.

ln the present showing, no attempt has been made to identify types ofmaterials employed in the various parts in the shading used. The partscould be composed entirely or" metal, except, possibly, the tubes as at39, 38, 3S. However, in certain uses of this device, all of the parts,except the springs and, possibly, some of the ball valves and the plates`4t2, could be composed of plastic material, even to the structure oithe vwiper blade which, in the present illustration, is indi ated ascomposed ot rubber.

Having fully described my invention, what l claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

l. A device of the character described comprising a tubular handlemember having a removable cap at one end controlling admission to areservoir in said handle mem ber, a tubular body extending from theother end of said handle member, a fitting element mounted on the end ofsaid tubular body and comprising an angular-ly extending cup-shapedextension, a brush head detachable from said extension, a ilared tongugeangularly disposed to said extension, the handle member havin.CY atransverse cylinder adjacent and extending completely across the secondnamed end thereof, said cylinder having a one-diameter bore of a `lengthsubstantially equal to the diameter of said reservoir, a manuallyoperated piston in said cylinder, a spring for ctuating the piston inone direction in said cylinder, said cylinder having a valve controlledintake and a valve controlled discharge circumerentially spaced withrespect to said intake, a tube coupled with said discharge and saidfitting element for transmitting liquid from said cylinder to saidcup-shaped extension, and a tube in said reservoir extending from theiirst named end of the handle member to said valve controlled inlet.

2. A device as detined in claim 1, wherein the inlet and discharge ofthe cylinder includes extending sleeves in which ball valves operate,and the ball valve of said discharge is spring actuated in onedirection.

3. A device as defined in claim l, wherein said flared tongue includesmeans supporting a wiper blade in conA nection therewith.

4. A device as delined in claim 1, wherein said intake comprises ahollow two-part plug fixed to the cylinder and having an inlet thereto,said plug having two ports, one of which opens directly into thereservoir of said handle member and the other communicates with the lastnamed tube.

5,. A device as defined in claim 4, wherein said plug includes twoalined valve seats, and one ball valve operatively selectively engagingboth of said seats.

6. A device as defined in claim 5, wherein said plug includes anotherball valve controlling the inlet to said cylinder.

7.. A device as deiined in' claim 1, wherein the cylinder includesapertured ribs at opposed sides thereof placing the reservoir of thehandle member in communication with a chamber in said tubular body.

8. A device as defined in claim 1, wherein said cylinder includes ribsat opposed sides thereof, and said ribs, in combination with saidcylinder, sealing one end of the reservoir in said handle member.

9. A device as defined in claim l, wherein the cylinder includes a valvecontrolled drain adjacent the piston when said piston is in normalprojected position.

References Cited in the tile' of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,434,920 V-Jolfe Feb. 26, i924 2,753,578 Leb-et July l0, 1956 2,772,430Moritt Dec. 4, 1956 2,997,732 Gilchrist et al Aug. 29, i196,1

1. A DEVICE OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED COMPRISING A TUBULAR HANDLE MEMBER HAVING A REMOVABLE CAP AT ONE END CONTROLLING ADMISSION TO A RESERVOIR IN SAID HANDLE MEMBER, A TUBULAR BODY EXTENDING FROM THE OTHER END OF SAID HANDLE MEMBER, A FITTING ELEMENT MOUNTED ON THE END OF SAID TUBULAR BODY AND COMPRISING AN ANGULARLY EXTENDING CUP-SHAPED EXTENSION, A BRUSH HEAD DETACHABLE FROM SAID EXTENSION, A FLARED TONGUGE ANGULARLY DISPOSED TO SAID EXTENSION, THE HANDLE MEMBER HAVING A TRANSVERSE CYLINDER ADJACENT AND EXTENDING COMPLETELY ACROSS THE SECOND NAMED END THEREOF, SAID CYLINDER HAVING A ONE-DIAMETER BORE OF A LENGTH SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE DIAMETER OF SAID RESERVOIR, A MANUALLY OPERATED PISTON IN SAID CYLINDER, A SPRING FOR ACTUATING THE PISTON IN ONE DIRECTION IN SAID CYLINDER, SAID CYLINDER HAVING A VALVE CONTROLLED INTAKE AND A VALVE CONTROLLED DISCHARGE CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACED WITH RESPECT TO SAID INTAKE, A TUBE COUPLED WITH SAID DISCHARGE AND SAID FITTING ELEMENT FOR TRANSMITTING LIQUID FROM SAID CYLINDER TO SAID CUP-SHAPED EXTENSION, AND A TUBE IN SAID RESERVOIR EXTENDING FROM THE FIRST NAMED END OF THE HANDLE MEMBER TO SAID VALVE CONTROLLED INLET. 